Hedgehog Habitats Investigation

We’ve been researching how hedgehogs keep warm whilst hibernating. Obviously, we were unable to use a real hedgehog to test, so we replaced it with a hot container of water. Next, we surrounded each container with various materials. For our scientific investigation, we asked the question ‘How does the type of material affect the temperature of the water?’ Using a data logger we recorded the temperature at regular intervals and noted how quickly it fell. Can you predict which of the materials kept the water hotter the longest? Or which wasn’t as effective?

We used shredded paper, straw, autumn leaves, sawdust and kept one as a ‘control’ which didn’t have any material around it!